A Bitter Pill
by The Great Am
Summary: ATF: Ezra has disappeared and is accused of the murder of an undercover FBI agent. The rest of Team Seven have been ordered to leave the case alone and given aleave of absence. With the evidence overwhelmingly against Ezra can the rest of the Seven help him while staying on the right side of the law?
1. Chapter 1

Jerry stumbled through the rain-darkened streets of Denver. Thunder rumbled low in the distance as the spring storm moved off.

He stopped in the shadow of a building across the street from an abandoned auto body shop called Pete's.

He dug a cigarette out of his pocket and fumbled with his lighter, swearing as the flame refused to catch.

He would have been home by now if that bastard bartender who claimed to be his friend hadn't told him he was too drunk to drive home and refused to give him his keys.

A shot rang out through the dark streets and glass shattered in one of the few intact windows of the old auto body shop.

Jerry dropped the unlit cigarette to the ground and stared as the door flew open and a lean man with dark hair ran past him. In the glow of a streetlamp, he caught the letters ATF on the back of the man's jacket.

Curious, he waited a minute then, when nothing happened, he made his way to the abandoned building and peered inside.

At first, he didn't see anything then, in the glow through the broken window, he noticed a man lying face down on the floor.

"Hey buddy, you all right?" He walked cautiously into the shop. When he reached the man, his feet slid in something wet on the floor. He stared down in confusion then the smell of blood hit him.

"Oh God." He clamped a hand over his mouth, turned and ran, his feet sliding on the floor until the blood wore off.


	2. Chapter 2

The building that housed the offices of Denver's ATF branch was quiet at six o'clock on a Sunday morning, most of the offices were closed and the cleaning crews had gone hours ago.

"What's the FBI doing here?" J.D. asked as he tossed his duffle bag down beside his desk. He'd been heading to the gym to meet Cassie when he'd gotten Chris' message that Director Travis wanted them there pronto.

Buck shrugged. "Stirring up trouble no doubt." He yawned and leaned back in his desk chair. "Hope this isn't going to take long; I left a date waiting at my apartment." He grinned at the thought.

"Might as well tell her to go home," Chris said striding into the room, a dark look on his face.

"What's going on Cowboy?" Vin asked.

"The Director will explain. Come on." He started towards Travis' office.

"Shouldn't we wait for the others?" J.D. asked. Josiah, Nathan, and Ezra hadn't come in yet.

"We'll fill them in later."

J.D. looked at Buck and Vin for an explanation but they looked as uninformed as he felt.

As one, they followed Chris into the office. Travis was seated behind his desk; a wiry, grey-haired man in an FBI jacket sitting in a chair set at an angle in front of the desk so he had a view of the entire room.

"Thank you for coming," Travis said. "Please have a seat."

J.D. took the other chair while Buck and Vin shared the sofa and Chris leaned against the wall near the door.

"What's this about Director?" Buck asked.

"Ezra's been accused of murder."

"What?" J.D, Buck, and Vin said simultaneously. The dark expression on Chris' face deepened.

"That's ridiculous," Buck said. "When Ezra gets here..."

"Agent Standish has disappeared," the FBI agent interrupted.

"This is Agent Cutter," Travis said. "He's in charge of the investigation."

"Who was killed?" Vin asked.

"Lance Mortimer, an undercover FBI agent."

"Then it was probably justified," Buck said with a snort.

"That's enough Agent Wilmington," the Director snapped. "You'll have our full cooperation Agent Cutter."

Cutter's thin lips turned up slightly at the corners. "Thank you Director. I know it isn't easy finding out that one of your own is dirty." He stood up and left the office.

He'd barely passed through the door when outraged objections started flying.

"Boys," Director Travis said raising his voice to be heard over the clamour. "I don't like this any more than you do, nor do I believe Agent Standish to be dirty. But," he had to raise his voice again at that word, "the evidence against him is damning and the FBI are within their rights to insist that we leave the investigation to them."

"What about Ezra's right to a fair investigation?" Buck demanded. "You don't think the FBI might be a little biased?"

"Agent Cutter has agreed to share any information they come up with. Something he is not required by law to do, I might point out," Director Travis said raising his voice as Buck opened his mouth again.

"So what now?" Vin asked. "We just go about our day as usual?"

Travis nodded. "That's probably for the best. Go home. Enjoy your day off. We'll deal with the fallout tomorrow."

"We're not just going to let the FBI pin this on Ezra," J.D. objected as they left the Director's office.

"Course not," Buck scoffed. "We'll just have to find Ez first and—"

"That's enough," Chris interrupted, glaring. "I don't want to hear about any of you interfering with the FBI."

"But—" J.D. started to object but backed down as the full weight of the Larabee glare landed on him.

"Go home," Chris ordered stalking across the bullpen to his office. "And keep your noses clean!" he shouted back over his shoulder.

"To hell with that," Buck muttered. "I'm not going to stand by while the FBI hang one of our own out to dry. You two in?"

Both J.D. and Vin agreed without any hesitation and the three of them headed for the elevator.

M7M7M7

"Hey Kassidy," Buck said. "Yeah I'm sorry, I got called into work at the last minute." He grinned at something she said on the other end of the line and shrugged apologetically at his friends.

Vin rolled his eyes. "Come on J.D. Romeo might be a while."

They left Buck leaning against his Chevy and walked across the street to the auto shop. It was still blocked off with police tape but there was no one around, the FBI having finished their examination of the premises a few hours ago.

Vin popped the lock on the front door, he lacked Ezra's finesse but he could get the job done.

J.D. let out a low whistle as they stepped inside.

The floor was stained with the brown of dried blood, broken glass glinting in the morning light, but the body had been removed.

Vin frowned as he walked around the room. "Too many people have been through here," he said in disgust as he tried to make out what had happened. He crouched to examine a smaller patch of blood maybe ten feet in front of where the body must have lain.

"What was Ezra doing here?" J.D. wondered.

Vin looked up at him.

"I mean if it was something to do with a case wouldn't he have told us?"

"Not necessarily kid," Buck said joining them. "Found anything yet?"

Vin shook his head. "Thought I'd take scrapings from these blood splatters. Maybe forensics could tell us more."

"Hey J.D.," Buck said looking thoughtful. "How hard would it be to hack into a government database?"

J.D. stared at him. "Um…hard. They tend to have pretty tight security."

"But you could hypothetically get into, say, the FBI case files?"

"Well yeah but why? Director Travis said the FBI would share any information they found."

"I bet we won't see anything until Agent Cutter is sure we won't try to use it to help Ezra, if Travis even shows it to us."

Vin finished with the blood and for good measure took several photos of the scene with his phone. "I'd feel better knowing what the FBI is going to do before they do it," he admitted.

"It's settled then," Buck said grinning. "Come on J.D. let's go put those computer skills of yours to good use."


End file.
